OWERRI, Nigeria — A chilling investigation by Amnesty International has exposed a systematic pattern of enforced disappearances and human rights atrocities at “Tiger Base,” the headquarters of the Police Anti-Kidnapping Unit in Owerri, Imo State.
The findings, built on harrowing testimonies from survivors and former detainees, allege that children arrested alongside their mothers are being forcibly removed by police officers and never returned. According to the report, these minors are effectively “disappeared”—taken without official documentation, concealed from relatives, and removed from the facility to unknown locations.
a pattern of enforced disappearance
Amnesty International’s report paints a grim picture of a facility operating outside the bounds of the law. Survivors describe a deliberate obstruction of justice where officers refuse to provide information on the whereabouts of seized children. The lack of records and the total isolation of detainees from legal counsel or family members suggest a coordinated effort to vanish individuals.
“The removal of children from their mothers without a trace is not just a policy failure; it is a crime against humanity,” a human rights advocate monitoring the Owerri situation stated. “The absence of any paper trail points to a systematic practice of enforced disappearance at the heart of the Imo State police command.”
allegations of executive cover-up
The report has ignited a political firestorm, with critics accusing Governor Hope Uzodimma of providing both “political cover and financial logistics” for the notorious unit. Despite mounting evidence of extrajudicial killings, torture, and the use of POS machines for extortion within the base, the Governor has consistently defended the unit’s operations.
“Governor Uzodimma continues to deny that these violations are occurring, even as the testimonies of survivors become impossible to ignore,” said a local civil rights activist. “By funding and shielding the Tiger Group from independent oversight, the state government is arguably complicit in the atrocities being committed in the name of security.”
horrors inside ‘cell 1’
The investigation further details the use of “Cell 1,” a specific holding area where detainees are reportedly taken and never seen again. Survivors testified to witnessing extrajudicial executions and enduring severe torture, including waterboarding and beatings with iron rods.
While the Imo State Police Command has dismissed the allegations as “unfounded” and a distraction from their fight against violent crime, the detailed accounts of disappeared children have led to international calls for an independent judicial commission of inquiry.
As of Wednesday, the state government has not issued a fresh rebuttal to the specific claims regarding the missing children, maintaining its stance that Tiger Base remains a vital tactical formation in the state’s security architecture.
